Christmas trees, evergreen wreaths, Advent calendars and coal in the stockings of naughty children: it's all thanks to evolving holiday traditions of the Germans.
The German people carried many rituals from their pagan legacy into modern Christianity. Deutsche immigrants poured into America well over a century ago, and the traditions they brought can still be found throughout Mid-Missouri, an area heavily populated by their descendants.
While the tradition of Krampus carrying away naughty children in a sack has yet to be accepted in America, Father Christmas will be wondering around the Hermann Farm from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, visiting good girls and boys like in the German villages of old. A European Christmas Market will be held 10 a.m.-4 p.m. both days at the Hermannhof Winery, and German decorations can be found on display at the Deutschheim State Historic Site in Hermann.
These traditions now put on by businesses and organizations were once commonly found in German immigrants' homes. Decorating was a much more difficult task for families than in the era we live in today.
As boys in the 1940s, brothers Walter and Richard Schroeder, whose grandfather immigrated from the Rhineland, were charged with an important task every Christmas. Rather than patronize a retail store for artificial greenery, the adolescents hiked from their home at the West Elm and Broadway intersection, over the Missouri River, toward the bluffs carrying baskets and broomsticks to collect moss that went beneath their Christmas tree.
"Around the tree, we would put up a little village of houses and, of course, the traditional manger scene," Walter said. "We always put moss around on oil cloth.
"My brother Richard and I had the chore of going out and getting great big clumps of green moss from the hills. It was beautiful all different colored moss. (We) put it in the baskets and put the broomsticks through the wire handles of the bushel baskets (to carry home) with a person on both ends of the broomstick."
As in the Schroeder home, the Christmas tree and decorum that surrounds it are perhaps the most prized of existing German traditions. Millions of trees stand in places of prestige throughout America. More than 50 heavily decorated evergreens are on display in the White House alone.
So, how did the Christmas tree tradition take root?
Ancient European tribes celebrated the Yule time winter solstice by placing evergreen bows around their homes. Germans are thought to have expanded this tradition to an entire tree about 500 years ago. They were decorated with apples, nuts, cookies and other treats to symbolize life and spring. It wasn't until Lutheranism developed in Deutschland that trees were decorated with bright lights to represent stars. German immigrants brought the Christmas tree to America, but it was not in fashion among other Christians until illustrations circulated of United Kingdom Queen Victoria and her German-born husband's royal tree in 1848. It then skyrocketed in popularity throughout England and the United States.
Now, Christmas trees have become an industry all their own. Harvested trees can be purchased in commercial lots, and plastic models are sold in retail stores. The Pea Ridge Forest Christmas Tree Farm outside Hermann makes tree hunting a full holiday experience, offering hayrides, cocoa and Santa visits from 9 a.m. to dusk daily since the weekend before Thanksgiving.
The Deutschheim State Historic Site has several German-style Christmas trees on display for the Weihnachtsfest, a free German Christmas Celebration held 10 a.m.-4 p.m. next weekend. The trees are made of evergreens or feathers, stand on the floor or tables, and even hang from the ceiling.
The Schroeder family tree is unlike those seen in most homes today. His grandfather made the artificial fir - known as a Weihnachtspyramide or Christmas pyramid - from wood and designed it to rotate at the top.
"In 1891, when Grandma and Grandpa Thomas were expecting their second child, my Uncle Carl, their first child born in America, they built their first house at 215 West Elm," Walter wrote of his family's history. "For their new baby's first Christmas in the new house, as Mom told me much later, Grandpa built a 5-foot-tall artificial Christmas tree, fashioned after the ones he remembered as a boy in Germany.
Family members gathered at the Schroeder home to eat grandmother's traditional German goose dinner and treats like lebkuchen and springerle cookies, before gathering around the piano for German Christmas carols.
"(My entire family) all sang them, and I learned them of course, too," Walter said. "I feel nostalgic when I'm in my car driving alone, and I belt them good and loud."
As with all things - especially Germanic winter solstice traditions - the Schroeder celebration and their prized tree have changed a lot over time. Walter no longer collects green moss to place beneath its frame, but his daughter, Julie Schroeder, and her wife, Susan Ferber, now care for the tree and live in the family home.
Julie sees it as a piece of evolving folk art rather than an antique. Grandma used to say it must be kept fresh and young by tinkering with its features. The traditional edible German ornaments have been accompanied by more modern elements like electric lights, shiny baubles and miniature Santa figures. This year, Julie is hard at work replacing the burned out strand of lights bound to its wooden "branches."
"We've added traditions and let other ones go," Julie said. "As my role as caretaker of this tree, I know there is a deep historic aspect to it. It's become really apparent to me that the reason it survived all these years is because people changed it. It's not a static work of art. It's something that my grandma was constantly tinkering with it. Things changed, they got rid of the candles and put on coal oil lamps. They've added a music box and electric lights. It's gotten really far away from the wooden frame with boards turned by candle heat."
Julie has attempted to keep part of her father's beloved caroling memories alive every time she brings the tree down from storage with her wife. As they descend the stairs, they sing "O Tannenbaum" ("Oh Christmas Tree") in German, like her father used to when he brought it down.
In the spirit of advancement, Julie is also considering learning "O Tannenbaum" backwards to sing while they put the tree away at the end of the Christmas season.